Oregon Trail

For other uses of the term, see Oregon Trail (disambiguation)

History

The first land route across the continent to be well-mapped was that taken by Lewis and Clark from 1804 to 1805. They believed they had found a practical route to the west coast. However, the pass through the Rocky Mountains they took, Lolo Pass, turned out to be too difficult for wagons to pass. In 1810, John Jacob Astor outfitted an expedition to find an overland supply route for establishing a fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River. The expedition was a failure, but on the way back, the party discovered a wide, low pass through the Rockies: South Pass.

Related Topics:
Lewis and Clark - 1804 - 1805 - Rocky Mountains - Lolo Pass - 1810 - John Jacob Astor - Fur trading - Columbia River - South Pass

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Westward expansion did not begin immediately, however. Reports from expeditions in 1806 by Lt. Zebulon Pike and in 1819 by Maj. Stephen Long described the Great Plains as "unfit for human habitation" and "the Great American Desert". These descriptions ignored the fact that the land could be fertile if irrigated with ground water (the Great Plains are a major farming area today). Regardless, the images they conjured up of a wasteland of sand and cactus discouraged migration for some time.

Related Topics:
1806 - Zebulon Pike - 1819 - Stephen Long - Great Plains

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The route of the Oregon Trail began to be scouted out as early as 1823 by fur traders and explorers. The trail began to be regularly used by fur traders, missionaries, and military expeditions during the 1830s. At the same time, small groups of individuals and the occasional family attempted to follow the trail and some succeeded in arriving at Fort Vancouver in Washington. On May 16, 1842 the first organized wagon train on the Oregon Trail set out from Elm Grove, Missouri, with more than 100 pioneers. (Members of the party later disagreed over the size of the party, one stating 160 adults and children were in the party, while another counted only 105.) Despite company policy to discourage U.S. emigration, John McLoughlin, Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, offered the American settlers food and farming equipment on credit, being unwilling to watch able-bodied people to starve. The following year, an estimated 800 immigrants arrived in the Willamette Valley. Hundreds of thousands more would follow, especially after gold was discovered in California in 1849. The trail was still in use during the Civil War, but traffic declined after 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was completed. The trail continued to be used into the 1890s and modern highways eventually paralleled large portions of the trail.

Related Topics:
1823 - Fur traders - 1830s - Fort Vancouver - Washington - May 16 - 1842 - Wagon train - Elm Grove, Missouri - John McLoughlin - Hudson's Bay Company - Willamette Valley - Gold - California - 1849 - Civil War - 1869 - Transcontinental railroad - 1890s

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Other migration paths for early settlers prior to the establishment of the transcontinental railroads involved taking passage on a ship rounding the Cape Horn of South America or to the Isthmus (now Panama) between North and South America. There, an arduous mule trek through hazardous swamps and rain forests awaited the traveler. A ship was typically then taken to San Francisco, California.

Related Topics:
Cape Horn - South America - Isthmus - Panama - San Francisco, California

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